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God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways for His glory. At first it may seem that that statement isn’t quite right and you may not believe it. After all aren’t only “super Christians” used by God?” You may be thinking, “I’m just a lay person what can God do with you?” Rather than thinking in terms of whether or not you have a seminary degree or extensive ministry experience I want you to go back to the Gospels. Remember the Apostles were uneducated and had no formal theological training before they met Jesus. They walked with Jesus for three years day and night; watching Him perform miracles, and hearing Him teach them personally and as He taught others. Do you think that this Jesus the One who called men to follow Him is concerned about titles after one’s name? Don’t get me wrong earning degrees are great, but earning degrees is not ultimate unless they are yielded in submission to King Jesus and used for His glory. God took a shepherd boy and made Him King of Israel. God used a donkey after all to deliver a message. God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways.

Imagination is what one theologian calls, “the power of synoptic vision” (Vanhoozer). It allows us to order the world, and see things collected together as opposed to the fragmented way we typically perceive the world. Dragons embody evil. Faithful and True embodies holiness and justice. Revelation engages our imaginations until we see reality through radical images, images that push us past the dominant worldly ideologies we simply assume and naturally ingest daily like the air we breathe.

Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny, Reese Weatherspoon plays June Carter Cash and early in the film – a young Cash, fresh out of the Air Force, walks into the famed Sun Studios in Memphis in hopes that record producer Sam Phillips will give him his big break.

Johnny plays the first minute of an old gospel song when Sam interrupts him – “Got anything else? I’m sorry but I’ve heard that gospel song, sung – just…like…that. I don’t believe you.”

“It’s easy Yancey. Think of it this way: B.I.B.L.E. = Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.” Most of my life I was taught God’s Word was primarily a rulebook for living. Yes, the Bible told me about Jesus, but I primarily learned to approach the Bible like an Aesop’s Fables for Christians, where I would receive moral teaching showing me how good Christians live.

But while the Bible gives much instruction on life, it’s primarily a story­—the one true story about God’s gracious plan to rescue the world through the person and work of Jesus.

You have the body God gave you — with all its genetic capacities and limitations (Psalm 139:13). You were born at the time and place he determined (Acts 17:26).

And if you’re a Christian, he has called you out of darkness into light (Ephesians 5:8). God considers you a necessary part of Christ’s body, the Church (1 Corinthians 12:27), and he has given you particular gifts to use for the sake of this body — along with a measured amount of grace for using them (Romans 12:6).